As I was deciding to commit to the theme of e-diplomacy for my thesis topic, I was nervous there weren’t enough resources present with which to back up my arguments and from which to draw relevant conclusions that would contribute to the field of public diplomacy. This month proved me wrong: especially with e-diplomacy “going mainstream” with a prominent panel at the 2013 South by Southwest Conference, there has been an onslaught of recent articles, studies, and opinion pieces regarding diplomatic actions happening in the digital space. Five themes/trends I’d like to note so far:
1. E-diplomacy has some credible critics. The best and most dynamic pieces I’ve read on this topic have been the skeptical ones. This is good for two reasons: a) it provides a clear anti-thesis to my current one and the best way to prove yourself right is to argue with someone who wants to prove you wrong, & b) it could push e-diplomacy practitioners to strive for better standards and to be more eloquent about their work. BUT as I’m undecided on whether or not the final draft of my paper will be for or against the use of social media in public diplomacy, this concerns me. If the critics are more clearly making their argument against, then will e-diplomacy fans ever gain credibility, or worse, be pushed out of the dynamic work they’re doing?
2. E-diplomacy is unstoppable. The most common theme I’ve discovered is that there is no going back; social media is here to stay and the businesses/organizations/embassies that embrace the trend and seek to join the game with conviction, will be all the more successful.
3. Government is taking the lead. This point was inspired by a recent tweet of @MattJHarmon: “Irony: Government foreign relations offices have better definitions for “success” on social media than most companies. #SXSWdiplomacy.” This blew me away. My hope is that social media has redirected the emphasis to quality of audience engagement and people-to-people interaction rather than profit and product placement. I can’t wait to research this more; I want to dig deeper to find measurable outcomes that may prove how defining success aids international dialogue.
4. Best practices are non-existent. I’m hoping someone/something/some-source-willing-to-go-on-record can prove me wrong with this one. This is really the topic I would most like to focus on in the bulk of my paper, so, for now, I plan to develop my own recommendations (after proper due diligence, of course). The main sources I’ve discovered are through PR bloggers and Avinash Kaushik of Google Analytics fame. When I originally set out to pursue the topic of e-diplomacy, however, I had hoped the idea of best practices would have come directly from social media teams at embassies. Granted, the government can’t publish all of it’s work, but the only major research I’ve been able to find is by the diligent Fergus Hanson focusing on U.S. e-diplomacy. It’s a great start, but my hope is to find more diverse sources, coming from a wider range of nations and diplomats. If you’d like to share your own social media best practices, with the idea that they could be utilized among foreign service officers one day, please do comment below and we’ll get in touch.
5. We should not ignore traditional diplomacy nor cut regular public diplomacy programming. The stand-out public diplomats in the field understand that e-diplomacy, and what they communicate digitally, is simply supplementary to the work they do on the ground. Stay tuned for my next post on my top ten favorite digital diplomacy practitioners to see them in action.
